VA gov backs off support for ultrasound bill

Supporters of the Virginia ultrasound bill may have lost a key ally Tuesday evening when Governor Bob McDonnell (R) withdrew his unconditional support for the controversial legislation, according to The Washington Post.

The decision came after McDonnell’s staff held a meeting with delegates and found the ultrasounds being more invasive than originally considered. Instead of previously backing any ultrasound bill that would reach his desk, McDonnell’s spokesman Tucker Martin exhibited a notable change.

“Our position is: If the General Assembly passes this bill the governor will review it, in its final form, at that time,” Martin said in a statement.

The Virginia House postponed a final vote on the bill for a second consecutive day Tuesday afternoon. Both the state’s House and Senate have already approved their versions of the bill.

According to the Post, a crowd of 1,200 men and women held a silent protests outside the state capital in Richmond Monday evening, wearing T-shirts that read “Virginia is for lovers, not probes.”

The ultrasound bill would require a woman to undergo a medically unnecessary ultrasound by inserting a probe into the vagina to determine the gestation age of the fetus. A woman who declines to look at the ultrasound would have to sign a statement that would become apart of her medical file along with the printed image.

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Andrew Jones is a staff writer/reporter for Raw Story. Besides covering politics, he is also a freelance sports journalist, as well as a slam poetry and music artist. You can follow him on Twitter @sluggahjells.